Reference: Just Released: U.S. National, State and County Population Estimates by Demographic Characteristics: July 1, 2011

The U.S. Census Bureau today released a set of estimates showing that 50.4 percent of our nation’s population younger than age 1 were minorities as of July 1, 2011. This is up from 49.5 percent from the 2010 Census taken April 1, 2010. A minority is anyone who is not single-race white and not Hispanic.

The population younger than age 5 was 49.7 percent minority in 2011, up from 49.0 percent in 2010. A population greater than 50 percent minority is considered “majority-minority.”

These are the first set of population estimates by race, Hispanic origin, age and sex since the 2010 Census. They examine population change for these groups nationally, as well as within all states and counties, between Census Day (April 1, 2010) and July 1, 2011. Also released were population estimates for Puerto Rico and its municipios by age and sex.

There were 114 million minorities in 2011, or 36.6 percent of the U.S. population. In 2010, it stood at 36.1 percent.

There were five majority-minority states or equivalents in 2011: Hawaii (77.1 percent minority), the District of Columbia (64.7 percent), California (60.3 percent), New Mexico (59.8 percent) and Texas (55.2 percent). No other state had a minority population greater than 46.4 percent of the total.

More than 11 percent (348) of the nation’s 3,143 counties were majority-minority as of July 1, 2011, with nine of these counties achieving this status since April 1, 2010. Maverick, Texas, had the largest share (96.8 percent) of its population in minority groups, followed by Webb, Texas (96.4 percent) and Wade Hampton Census Area, Alaska (96.2 percent).

The Nation Slowly Ages

There was a small uptick in the nation’s median age, from 37.2 years in 2010 to 37.3 in 2011. The 65-and-older population increased from 40.3 million to 41.4 million over the period and included 5.7 million people 85 and older. Likewise, working-age adults (age 18 to 64) saw their numbers rise by about 2 million to 196.3 million in 2011. In contrast, the number of children under 18, 74.0 million in 2011, declined by about 200,000 over the period, largely because of the decline in high school-age children 14 to 17.

Maine had a higher median age than any other state (43.2), with Utah having the lowest median age (29.5). Florida had the highest percentage of its population 65 and older (17.6 percent), followed by Maine (16.3 percent). Utah had the highest percentage of its total population younger than 5 (9.3 percent).

Among counties, Sumter, Fla., was the nation’s “oldest,” with 45.5 percent of its population 65 and older, and Geary, Kan., was the nation’s “youngest” (11.4 percent younger than 5).

Read the Complete Summary
Includes highlights for each race group and Hispanics at the national, state and county levels.

Gary Price (gprice@mediasourceinc.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. Before launching INFOdocket, Price and Shirl Kennedy were the founders and senior editors at ResourceShelf and DocuTicker for 10 years. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com, and is currently a contributing editor at Search Engine Land.